Blog Giveaway

Here's just a quick note to say that there will be a fabulous giveaway on this blog as soon as MrsG's ramblings reach 50 followers. Watch this space and if you like my creations the prizes will not disappoint!

This is the yarn I'll be using to knit up your unique, MrsG designed prizes. You can read about this amazing yarn here.

More details very soon... let's just say if you're after fab, cosy woollies to brighten up your winter you will not want to miss this one!

MrsGPicks @Handmade and Fabulous!

I’m not one to brag, but an exciting proposition has filled me with pride, confidence and joy, so I will brag maybe just a little…

My friend, lovely Susie of LynwoodJewellery, who is a regular contributor to UKHandmade, a successful jewellery designer in her own right, lover of all things handmade, woman of great taste, and last but by no means least my best customer and biggest fan has set up a gorgeous new blog Handmade and Fabulous! and asked little old me to be the guest blogger.

My column, called “MrsGPicks” is a monthly fashion article on all things gorgeous in knit, crochet and felt from around the globe. A fantastic job, which has me surfing the net in search of the best, most wonderful, daring, independent designers. If only I could make it my day job… one can dream.

It would give me the greatest pleasure if any of you faithful followers would care to read my first article and leave a comment. It’s “Born Again Granny” and you can find it here.

There will be plenty more gorgeous finds and the next theme to whet your appetite for beautiful handmade fashion is “Here comes the bride…” and will be published very soon, so do keep checking.

The Rite of Passage for Loop

After months of preparations and eager anticipation Loop, every knitters Mecca, finally moved to the new premises. I loved old little Loop, which brightened up Cross Street for the whole 5 years, packed with gorgeous colourful yarns, ribbons, buttons and all sorts of notions us knitters covet and absolutely need every day of our lives.

The new Loop has arrived in 15 Camden Passage, amongst well established antique shops, jewellers, boutiques and eateries, it arrived with a huge colourful bang! Susan the shop’s owner opened the doors to the new Loop last Saturday morning to the cheers and clapping of hundreds of expectant, excited knitters and crochetters, hungry to explore the new shop and examine the yarns.

I really am not exaggerating about the hundreds of the faithfuls who turned up for the launch. Most delicious cakes were waiting for us inside and we all got a lovely goodie-bag as a thank you, which i thought was an endearing, personal touch, which makes us all feel an important and appreciated part of Loop’s success.

The shop was packed full within minutes of opening and Susan stood behind her new counter serving the huge queue of customers ready to stock up on all those new, gorgeous yarns.

Loop is much bigger now it’s grown up. The ground floor and the first floor are filled with yummy yarns, beautiful haberdashery and all sorts of unique knickknacks. Upstairs looks and feels like the sitting room all of us always wanted – armchairs, a big comfy sofa, a wall of yarn and a bookcase filled with books every knitter wants to treasure.

The second floor will be used as a stock room and in the basement, which remains a secret yet to be discovered when it’s finished, will be a special space for the huge variety of classes Loop has to offer.

I love the new Loop – it’s exactly what dreams… my dreams are made of. But when I left I couldn’t help myself and walked to Cross street to see the old Loop for the last time.

I hope the new Loop will provide as many colourful memories and as many hours of enjoyment that the old Loop did for me. In fact, I’m sure it is the same Loop altogether, that size really isn’t everything and that the unique soul and spirit of Loop have found a bright and beautiful new home.

My Funny Valentine…

If you believe Valentine’s Day is a special, romantic date in the calendar I will not have to convert you. But for those cynical grumpies amongst you, who consistently claim us soppy, cheesy bunch only propel the commercial machine that is Valentines please, please read on.  For what I’m about to show you is not commercial, not cheesy or soppy for that matter. The little selection I’m presenting to you consist of beautiful items, which were handcrafted by people of various talents, who believe in non-commercial production of unique items of their own design.  So if you decided to say no to the white fluffy acrylic bears and cards sparkling with rainbows of sticky glitter consider these – one of a kind, uniquely designed gifts – not a fluffy bear or a speck of glitter in sight. Enjoy!

Huge thanks to all the artists featuring in My Funny Valentine selection. The showcased items and a variety of their other designs can be viewed and purchased from:

1. DIG THE EARTH              2. LynwoodJewellery

3, 4. MrsGKnits                   5. Harvey Crafty Cards

6. Glassprimitif                   7. Silky Prudence

8. Talking Beads                 9. PANTSANDPAPER

QueenOfHerts has arrived!

 Today for the first time QueenOfHerts opened for business. The shelves in the shop will be filling up steadily. Still lots of designs to list, lots of photographs to take and of course a bit of promoting to do.

In one day the shop has created a fair bit of interest and with time and with more designs I hope to delight you all and satisfy your need for unusual, edgy, one of a kind, stand out from the crowd jewellery.

I hope i have whet your appetite with my selection of photos and you will visit the new shop.

I appreciate all feedback and tips how to improve QueenOfHerts and make it a shop you will truly love.

Queen Of Herts!

With the New Year there’s a new venture taking shape. I wouldn’t like it to overshadow MrsGKnits, which has been a success in its first few months of existence. Success, which I will be shortly confirming on this blog with the satisfied customers’ comments and hopefully some pictures of lovely people who appreciate finer things in life and live to enjoy the unique, luxurious knits from MrsGKnits. But another time about that…

This post is dedicated to MrsG’s little sister. Ladies and gentlemen I give you QueenOfHerts!

QueenOfHerts was born from my exploration and pushing knitting and crochet to see what else can be done with a few unorthodox materials. First it was beaded crochet bracelets, then crochet and knitting with wire and then the imagination was truly let loose. Like most of my knitting designs, which you can see in MrsGKnits (my luxury knitwear emporium), the final results are not obvious until the late stages of completion of the piece. I enjoy the whole creation process, from gathering a few eye catching bits through the discovery what shape they will take. At times this might be a very long time until the Eureka moment when the idea how to finish the design comes suddenly and the piece takes its final shape. And from there I found I actually enjoyed teaching myself how to make other jewellery pieces and that’s where QueenOfHerts became a mixed bag of crochet and knitted wire, beads, knitted and crochet necklaces and corsages and a few other bits put together.

The new shop will be opening on Folksy soon and I will be back here to announce the launch officially. Watch this space folks!

MrsG’s Christmas

Weeks of preparations, anticipation… and Christmas is over. I thought you might like a glimpse into MrsG’s. I’m especially proud of the tree – personally dragged by me from the shop and adorned in a traditional red&gold theme.

The tree is getting a bit smaller every year – the sign of inflation – I only get the size I can buy for the same £20 every Christmas. Judging by the amount of presents though the credit crunch is still at bay.

All in all, Christmas was a jolly affair here - lots of resting, bad telly, forgot to stuff the turkey, ate copious amounts of chocolate, had lovely, undemanding guests on Boxing Day, fabulous pressies… and I haven’t picked up the needles in whole four days.

Christmas has come and gone too soon… but I’ve started some fabulous red mittens!

Bentley Priory Winter Fair

HO! HO! HO!

Yes, it's that time of year again, when most of us crafters not only start thinking about Christmas, but all the more serious of us actually start doing somethig about it. This year I'm happy to say I have been busier than ever. Private commissions are coming in with a steady flow thank you very much, but there's another event that will keep me knitting and crocheting on turbo speed.

I was invited by the organisers to set up a stall at Bentley Priory Winter Fair. It will take place on Saturday 5th December at Bentley Priory in Stanmore. The setting for the fair is so pallatial and grand it is a rare opportunity for the public to actually just visit and see Bentley Priory in its full glory. And if that wasn't enough to tempt you, the Winter Fair will be full of Crafts, Antiques and hand-made gifts, sold exclusively by artists invited to the Fair by the organisers. You can check all the exibitors and sellers when you follow the link above - if you persevere you will see MrsGKnits there too.

The proceeds from the entry fees, which are £1 per adult and 50p concessions, will be donated to charity by the organisers. There is free ample parking and the nearest tube station is Stanmore (there are detailed instructions how to get there on the organisers website).

I have a limitted amount of complimentary entry tickets, so if you would like to visit the Winter Fair please let me know. It would be great to see a friendly face on the day. And think of all that Christmas gift shopping - you can get gorgeous, unique, hand-made gifts for everyone in the family.

Hope to see you there...

What a Felting Friday!

After a reasonably busy Thursday I needed a day to relax. I haven't done any wet hand felting for ages so I decided to set the scene, I picked a perfect project and spent the day ruining a beautiful hand-knitted by myself some time ago Alchemy mohair shawl with soap, water and some serious rubbing action.

Lack of studio and a designated place of work meant that everything had to be set up on the kitchen table...

BOX OF TRICKS

 

 

 

 

THE TABLE IS SET

BEFORE LAYING OUT THE WOOL TOPS

AND THE FINISHED SCARF
I'm very pleased how the project turned out. It was a lot of work, patience and mess to clean up, but so worth it. I know how it works, yet it never ceases to amaze me like a wonderful magic trick.

Say YES to a cup cake!

It's official. Cupcakes are all the rage! They are fashionable, they're in, they're it! Why are they the sweet of the moment? Maybe because they're easy, maybe because they're bitesize or maybe because they're delicious and oh so pretty!

The art of the cupcake is getting popular and fast. It's such a simple piece of sponge that's pretty fool-proof and yet offers the huge potential to make it look like a cute little work of art. Is it any wonder we're all doing it?

Not one to let any trend pass her by, yours trully has rolled up her sleeves and got stuck right in. I bought the most delicious cupcake receipe book with the pictures just asking to be licked. They are from the hummingbird bakery. If you have never heard of it follow the link and let temptation guide you.

So there you have it - my humble attempt at the cult red velvet cupcake. You have to trust me that underneath all that buttercream icing the cake is surprisingly bright red! I think I might have to work on spreading not slapping the icing at random, keep the sugared rose petals and skip the chocolate shavings, make it neat next time.

I'm happy to confirm that in spite of slapdash decorating my red velvet cupcakes have passed the friends and family taste test!

To finish off I'd like to show you something absolutely stunning. It must take indescribable patience and precision to come up with these. Betz White I salute you! Before you ask yes they are knitted cupcakes. And, although you can't sink your sweet tooth in their luscious gorgeousness, these you can keep and admire for ever... so go on say YES to a cupcake...

The images is this post are borrowed from:
OBI'S SISTER

Leeloo Dog Blog

BOHEMIAN MAGIC

Betz White

Hearts in Herts.

These are my lovely new crochet coasters. I got sooooo hooked on crochet I keep finding little projects to practice on and these were just perfect. Such pretty little things, quick to do and you can make as many or as few as your heart desires. If you fancy having a go here is the link to Bella Dia and the pattern.


I have also started experimenting with wire and combining it with beads, as that went pretty well, I have taken on wire and pearls and the results are good - girls at work loved them, but they need to be perfected. When they are I will post some photos. For now I'm so proud of my coasters I might even make some placemats to match.

And here's one I made earlier... started it during my crochet class with Bee, but only managed to finish it off this weekend. It's a crochet bracelet, felted in the machine with pink and purple beads stitched on after. Another little project that delivered lots of fun and satisfaction.


...of course while I'm having a hot affair with crochet I can't be neglecting my knitting. I managed to fit in a couple of knitting projects into my days, mainly due to a long daily commute from the rural Hertfordshire to the heart of London (it's all hearts in this post?). My handbag is of the "big enough to fit the kitchen sink" variety and always contains a book, an i-pod and a knitting project or two. Yes, dear reader, I KNIT EVERY DAY! ... and lately I crochet nearly every day too. So many ideas - so little time...

Kiosk Kiosk

Last week on Sunday something very nice happened. Claire Montgomerie aka Monty with the help of Bee Clinch have been spreading their enthusiasm and knowledge of knitting, crochet and sewing on the South Bank at Kiosk.

Being an avid enthusiast of knitting and now also wonderful crochet, thanks to Bee, I ventured out from my little cosy pad up north (Hertfordshire) to cheer on my favourite crafters and their new venture. It was to promote the crafts by giving free advice and on the spot tuition and troubleshooting.

There were some lovely creations on display and available to buy from Claire and Bee.

This little girl astonished us all with her amazing dedication and talent. Very inspirational and reassuring that the all things crafty will live on. Olivia came not knowing what knitting was, and within minutes she was knitting away quietly, tongue out, concentration on her face.

Of course there were rewards in the form of these yummy cupcakes from Sugar Rose, absolute works of art in their own right. You can find out more about them from Make&Bake.

The weather was shaky, but mainly held up and I managed to escape before the rain came down. Views were quite magnificent all round and tourists were aplenty.

I was so glad I could make it as nothing makes me more happy than the company of happy people, who share the same passions...

Knitting is number one, but...

... even though obsessed with knitting Mrs G has ventured out to the unknown. I am on a crochet course and let me tell you my knitting obsession has a serious rival in crochet! So far it's been fun, thanks to the wonderful Bee Clinch who is our tutor and the cosy atmosphere of my favourite shop on this planet - Loop. I am loving my newly discovered skill, and already planning some projects to utilise some of my well bought stash. Oh joy! Simply can't wait for next Sunday!

Catching up with the cool gang...

Although in love with all things hand-made and beautiful I have decided to tame the beast of technology and write a blog. "Everybody's doing it, you know", "you really should take the plunge" - my friends said. Makes it sound like bungee jumping or taking a holiday in Papua New Guinea.

So even though I can't swim, I am plunging. Please be gentle I am still learning how to cooperate with the computer to achieve mutual satisfaction.

Hope you will enjoy my ramblings and an occasional showcase of my humble talents. (Big show-off deep down, but at least i am brave enough to admit it!) So for all your joy here comes my newly finished project to add colour to the drab day as it was today.